Hurricane Melissa (Blackford) (2019)
Hurricane Melissa '''was a weak Category 1 hurricane which made landfall on the Gulf Coast on October 4, 2019 near Gulfport, Mississippi, while causing moderate damage in portions of the Gulf Coast, the storm would later stall over northeastern Indiana, bringing flash flooding comparable to that of the Great Flood of 1913 to south central Michigan, northwestern Ohio and northeastern Indiana. It is one of the costliest tropical cyclones ever to strike the United States, as well as the second wettest tropical cyclone ever to strike the contiguous United States*. It produced 49.38 inches of rain at Fort Wayne, 44.11 inches of rain at Indianapolis, 39.87 inches of rain at Muncie, and 38.11 inches of rain at Marion. The city of Gary saw only 2.37 inches of rain, while nearby Michigan City saw 21.36 inches of rain. South Bend recorded the second highest rainfall total at 48.11 inches of rain falling, however a disputed measurement of 61.37 inches occurred at Alexandria, in rural Madison County, Indiana. Meteorological history A tropical wave emerged off the coast of Africa on September 16, 2019, and the NHC began monitoring the area of disorganized thunderstorms near the Windward Islands on September 20, tracking the possibility of it becoming a tropical depression or tropical storm in the coming days, with some models showing it becoming a major hurricane. The NHC issued their final update on the system early on September 23 as the storms were absorbed into a cold front, the storms reemerged on September 26 near the Yucatan Peninsula and rapidly became tropical in two days, the NHC issued their first advisory on Tropical Depression Eighteen on September 28, 2019 and later that evening named it Tropical Storm Melissa, Melissa remained a weak tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico due to unfavorable conditions, before rapidly intensifying as it entered the central Gulf of Mexico. It became a hurricane on October 3, reaching peak intensity around 4PM that day. Melissa made landfall early on October 4 as a 75 mph minimum Category 1 hurricane, causing minor storm surge leading to 4 drowning deaths in Louisiana. The storm began to rapidly weaken as it moved inland and by that evening it was a Tropical Depression, most models seemed to suggest that it would move back out to sea, however, the EURO model showed the storm eventually stalling in northeastern Indiana. By October 6, most models were in agreement that Melissa would stall in northeastern Indiana, and thus the National Weather Service offices in Indianapolis, Northern Indiana, Detroit and Wilmington (Ohio) issued Flash Flood Watches, with the one issued by Northern Indiana sounding extremely urgent at parts such as "The remnants of Melissa may bring major and deadly flash flooding to northeastern Indiana". On October 7, the storm moved into northeastern Indiana, bringing plenty of heavy rain and severe thunderstorms with it, producing several tornadoes. Widespread flash flooding was in progress by that evening, cars were reportedly stranded on I-69 in Fort Wayne, while traffic all over Indianapolis was at a standstill. The first flooding death occurred in rural Randolph County, Indiana late that night, when a car was submerged in flood waters. Flash flood emergencies were declared across northeastern Indiana, with state governor Eric Holcomb declaring a state of emergency the following day. Due to his close ties with the Trump administration, he got Trump to declare the area a federal emergency area. Rain started to come to a end early on October 9, after dumping as much as 4.13 feet (49.3 inches) of rain in some areas, the other 11 flood deaths would occur early that afternoon however when a overpass was so overfilled with water that it collapsed in downtown Fort Wayne, sending the overpass concrete onto emergency vehicles, no one was directly killed in the overpass collapse, however it did knock several emergency managers out, causing them to drown. The system finally moved out of the area later that afternoon, however, pure devastation was reported in northeastern Indiana, with the worst affected areas being Fort Wayne (Allen County) and Montpelier (Blackford County), a odd case regarding flooding in Blackford County led to the town of Shamrock Lakes only receiving river ponding, despite the towns low elevation and it's situation with 6 lakes. Donald Trump declared the flooding in Indiana, and the flooding of a lesser extent in Ohio and Michigan a "terrible disaster" and declared that extensive FEMA funding would go into the recovery of Indiana. Records The storm is the second wettest tropical storm on record to strike the contiguous United States, just over a inch ahead of Tropical Storm Amelia of 1978, but roughly 11 inches behind Hurricane Harvey of 2017. It produced 49.38 inches of rain at Fort Wayne International Airport, in Fort Wayne, with it being contested as the wettest tropical storm on record to strike the USA, with a PWS in Alexandria, Indiana recording 61.37 inches of rain, or roughly 0.8 inches ahead of Hurricane Harvey. The storm also was the costliest natural disaster ever to impact the state of Indiana, producing $11 billion in damages in just the state of Indiana alone. A collection was brought together by the National Weather Service offices covering the state of Indiana in Spring 2020 showing documented rainfall totals, and this table is shown below. ''Shows the total is disputed.' Retirement Due to the extensive flooding caused by Melissa in northeastern Indiana, the United States government requested the name be retired. It was retired in Spring 2020 by the WMO, and was replaced by Mason for use in the 2025 season, and will never be used again for any future Atlantic hurricanes. (* Disputed as the wettest tropical storm to ever strike the contiguous United States, as a Personal Weather Station in Alexandria, Indiana recorded 61.37 inches of rain, or roughly .8 inches ahead of Hurricane Harvey of 2017) Category:Category 1 hurricanes Category:Retired storms Category:Flood events